


I Can Feel The Heat (But I'm Not Burning)

by nothingwithoutyouxo



Category: Rise (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dogs, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 23:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14436465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingwithoutyouxo/pseuds/nothingwithoutyouxo
Summary: Jeremy has a puppy that’s only 13 weeks old and somehow no one knows about it until he brings the puppy to rehearsal one day. He’s having a rough time and so is everyone else so he thinks it’s necessary. It takes to just about everyone straight away. The issue is that it also takes to Simon and Jeremy isn’t sure how he feels about that.





	I Can Feel The Heat (But I'm Not Burning)

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first fic I've ever written for this show. I watched the latest episode yesterday and it was just .... non-stop for the whole 43 minutes wow this show is so intense. But anyways, here's a cute little fluff piece about my fave relationship in the show with the added bonus of there being a puppy.
> 
> This fic is for Hannah because we constantly yell at each other about this show and it's truly Blessed conversation. The title is from Falling by HAIM.

Rehearsals always start with Lilette rushing in straight from work, apologising profusely about how they have to do this, because of course it’s her fault that they have to stay so late. It was her fault that they all had to sacrifice some level of sleep just to keep up rehearsals. Her apologies were always brushed off straight away by every single one of the kids and both her teachers. It helped calm her down enough to get into character. She immediately went and sat next to Simon, who looked far too moody for her liking but she knew she wouldn’t be able to talk to him about it yet.

 

“Alright.” Lou clapped his hands together to get their attention, his eyes scanning every single one of them to do a quick headcount. “We’re going to be working on some choreography today but we’re still missing … has anyone seen Jeremy?”

 

Simon flinched at the name and everyone else shook their heads.

 

“Damn it.” Lou turned to Tracey quickly, as if to ask her what to do next but then the auditorium doors burst opened and Jeremy started making his way towards the stage.

 

“Sorry I’m late!,” he called. “I brought a friend.” Nestled safely in his arms, Jeremy was carrying a very small puppy. The second everyone noticed it there was an instant ‘awwww’ from most of the people in the room. Most of the people, of course, except for Lou.

 

“A dog?” he said, immediately stepping out to block the aisle so that Jeremy couldn’t pass.

 

Jeremy went from sort of happy to worried and cornered in a matter of seconds.

 

“Lou,” Tracy warned.

 

“No, we can’t have a _dog_ in here.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy muttered, clutched his puppy tighter to his chest.

 

“Tracy, we can’t have a _dog_ in rehearsal. There’s no place for a dog in rehearsal. All it will do is trash the set or eat the costumes or cables or -”

 

“She’ll be good!”Jeremy interrupted. “I promise. We’re not doing my scene today so I’ll keep an eye on her.”

 

Lou looked between Jeremy, the dog and the rest of the exhausted, somewhat hopeful kids in the room. He looked over at Tracey who was giving him a look of absolute steel. He sighed. “Just keep her away from the cables, ok?”

 

Jeremy lit up immediately, smiling. “Thank you, Mr. M,” he muttered before quickly heading up to the stage to sit with the other kids.

 

“Where was I?” he muttered, watching as pretty much every member of his cast flocked to Jeremy and his dog.

 

“Choreography,” Tracey reminded next to him. He looked over at her, noting the smile on her face. Well, at least he wouldn’t regret this decision. The kids _had_ been working hard and he couldn’t fault that. Maybe the dog being there would be helpful. The kids deserved that much.

 

***

 

“How old is she?” Lilette asked, as the puppy padded across her lap before finding a comfortable spot and curling up. They were taking a small break and most of the kids had rushed off to get some food so it was just her and Jeremy sitting on the floor in front of the stage.

 

“13 weeks,” he answered, gently petting the puppy’s head,

 

“She’s so cute.”

 

Jeremy smiled at that, but it seemed so much sadder than usual. She couldn’t help but notice that the same thing was happening with Simon. She wasn’t an idiot, she could tell what was going on. “I’m sorry,” she said, noticing that he looked up at her out of the corner of her eye. “About everything.”

 

He swallowed and she could tell that he knew exactly what she was talking about. “It’s fine.”

 

“It’s not fine.”

 

Jeremy looked up at her and she realised straight away that he seemed close to tears. “He was acting.” he muttered. “I should have … known that.”

 

“He’s … miserable,” she replied. “I just, I don’t know, I want you to know that he’s miserable too.”

 

“Thanks.” He could almost laugh at that.

 

“I guess he brought it on himself but -” she broke off, shrugging.

 

The two of them paused, looking at each other for a moment. Jeremy wasn’t sure why Lilette could see through him this easily. He’d barely spent any time with her at all and yet he felt like she already knew him. There was some comfort in that kind of understanding. The puppy yelped and slowly made her way out of Lilette’s lap. The two of them looked up at Maashous who’d come and sat next to them.

 

He looked up at them, smiled. “I just wanted to meet her. I hope that’s ok.”

 

“She’s here for all of us,” Jeremy confirmed.

 

“Hello,” he said, beaming down at the puppy as she padded into his lap as well and looked up at him, expecting pats. “What’s your name?”

 

***

 

The graveyard scene was absolutely painful to watch so Simon had taken to sitting backstage and trying to avoid it entirely. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was Robbie’s fault. He guessed that he _had_ been going through a lot of stuff with the football team, but he really wished that Robbie would use that kind of anger and sadness in this scene instead of just straight deadpanning it. Everyone could tell that Lou was losing his patience with him. A few of them had started taking bets on when he’d snap. Jeremy’s puppy was lying in front of him. She’d fallen asleep about three attempts ago but Simon had been keeping up a steady patting pattern in case that somehow helped. He wasn't really sure if he was allowed to be doing this. He thought that Jeremy might have been angry if he knew, but it was kind of calming him and he didn’t want to leave the puppy by herself. Lilette had been with him earlier. She was the reason the puppy was here in front of him, but considering she had to sit on stage for the duration of the scene (in an incredible amount of pain at just how horrible things were turning out from what he could tell) he was now alone. He guessed that if Jeremy said anything he could just tell him that.

 

Simon didn’t look up as Jeremy came to sit next to him. He kept a lot of distance between them. A lot more distance than he would have a few weeks ago and Simon was starting to feel sick just at the thought of that. He swallowed, focusing instead on the sleeping puppy in front of him and trying to ignore that his hands were kind of starting to shake a little. He hoped that it wouldn’t wake her up.

 

“Looks like she’s about as tired as all of us,” Jeremy muttered. “I wish I could have a nap this scene is taking forever.”

 

Simon could have laughed at that. A few weeks ago he easily would have, but right now he just wanted to start crying about all of this.

 

Jeremy didn’t say anything else and for a few minutes the two of them sat in silence as Robbie dragged himself through the same few lines that he just couldn’t seem to nail.

 

There were a lot of things that Simon needed to tell Jeremy. He’d been thinking a lot about all of it and there was just so much that he needed to say and to talk to him about. He wasn’t sure if he could find the words but all he knew was that he didn’t want Jeremy to leave again. He took a deep breath. “I sort of … broke things off with Annabelle,” he said. He could feel Jeremy’s eyes on him and Simon didn’t move, still staring at the puppy.

 

“I know,” he replied. “Simon, she’s been crying for like three days straight and she won’t even stand on the same side of the room as you.”

 

He nodded. He knew that he fucked up. He should never have dragged Annabelle down with him. She didn’t deserve that. He was such an _idiot_. “I kissed you back,” he said, finally looking up at the boy next to him.

 

Jeremy didn’t really react to that. His eyes widened the slightest amount but that was it.

 

 _Of course you kissed him back. He knows that. He was there._ “Jeremy, this has been … really hard for me. I’ve been.” He paused, swallowed. “Struggling with all of this a lot but, uh, I need you to know that I kissed you back.”

 

Still nothing, but he did move a little closer and somehow that seemed to both help Simon and hinder him, because now he was finding it a little harder to breathe. “I don’t know if I’m mad at you or not, about what you said and everything.”

 

Simon nodded. “You have every right to be.”

 

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

 

Simon had to pause for a moment. He knew what he needed to say next but the words were getting trapped in his throat. He stopped patting the puppy at his feet, though he was sure he’d probably stopped doing that a while ago now, and moved a little closer to Jeremy so that there was no space between them and took another deep breath. “I’m … not straight and um-”

 

He was cut off quite suddenly by Jeremy kissing him. Simon didn’t hesitate this time, he kissed back, a hand immediately grasping at Jeremy’s jacket as his fell against Simon’s shoulder again. It didn’t last long. It was far shorter than Simon wanted it to be, but he supposed that he probably deserved that. In fact, he was sure that he didn’t deserve this at all, but Jeremy was looking at him with those _eyes_ and Simon could feel himself starting to stitch back together.

 

“I know,” Jeremy smirked.

 

Simon had forgotten whatever the hell he was saying before, but of course Jeremy knew. Jeremy knew everything.

 

What the two of them missed while being so wrapped up in each other, was Lilette seeing everything. From her perch on the stage she had a clear view of where Simon was with the puppy and considering just how draining the scene was at the moment she’d taken to watching that instead of staring down her lap, or at the back of the stage or closing her eyes (because she was sure she’d fall asleep if she did that. She hoped rehearsal wrapped up soon, Robbie really wasn’t getting this at all). So of course that meant that she’d seen it. She couldn’t hear a word that they were saying, but she knew Simon and considering that kiss she was pretty sure that whatever he had said had been the right thing.

 

“Lilette! Stop smiling, you’re dead!”

 

She startled, sinking in her seat a little and biting down on her lip. “Sorry!”

**Author's Note:**

> The puppy purposely doesn't have a name because I couldn't/didn't want to settle on one, but I guess that means you guys can call her whatever you want so that's a bonus?
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Feel free to talk to me about this show on Tumblr. I'm over at potter-awakening


End file.
